Yesterday was July 1–Canada Day.
Today is July 2, the actual anniversary of the declaration of the independence of thirteen rebellious colonies from the British Empire in 1776. The Second Continental Congress approved the final draft of the Declaration of Independence two days later. On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote enthusiastically to his wife Abigail that July 2 would become a great holiday.
During the last year or so, Canada has been confronting proverbial demons from its past that affect its present and future. Canada has been wrestling with its shameful record of cultural and physical genocide of the First Nations, at residential schools, in particular. The reputation of the already-troublesome (and corrupt) Sir John A. Macdonald (1815-1891), one of the founders of Canada, the first Prime Minister of Canada, and one of the founders of the system of residential schools–has come under critical scrutiny, to state reality mildly. Some portion of Canadian society, especially on the Right, has not taken this well.
Down here, in the United States of America, we, as a population, have been experiencing similar turmoil in relation to institutionalized racism, police brutality, and other negative marks on our past and present. Some portion of our populace, especially on the Right, has not taken this well, hence hostility to Critical Race Theory (CRT), for example.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s Canada Day Address from yesterday struck a chord with me:
Today, we celebrate our country and everyone who calls it home. We also reflect on everything we have accomplished, and look forward to what more we have to do.
The pandemic has changed our daily lives, taught us hard lessons, and kept us apart. But through this challenge and crisis, Canadians were there for each other. We all – young and old – made personal sacrifices to help keep our communities safe and healthy. We put signs in our windows and banged pots and pans for our front-line health care workers. We ordered takeout and shopped at our local small businesses. And once vaccines became available, we got our shots as soon as possible, so our communities could return to normal.
Hope, hard work, kindness, resilience, and respect. These are the values that Canadians have shown in the face of the pandemic, and today we should celebrate those values and what we’ve overcome. But while we acknowledge our successes, we must also recognize that, for some, Canada Day is not yet a day of celebration.
The horrific findings of the remains of hundreds of children at the sites of former residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan have rightfully pressed us to reflect on our country’s historical failures, and the injustices that still exist for Indigenous peoples and many others in Canada. We as Canadians must be honest with ourselves about our past. And we must recognize that here in Canada there are still people who don’t feel safe walking the streets of their communities, who still don’t have the same opportunities as others, and who still face discrimination or systemic racism in their daily lives.
While we can’t change the past, we must be resolute in confronting these truths in order to chart a new and better path forward. Together, we have a long way to go to make things right with Indigenous peoples. But if we all pledge to do the work – and if we lead with those core values of hard work, kindness, resilience, and respect – we can achieve reconciliation and build a better Canada for everyone.
What makes Canada special is not the belief that this is the best country in the world, but the knowledge that we could be. And whether it’s finishing the fight against COVID-19, tackling the climate crisis, or walking the path of reconciliation, I know there is no challenge too great, if we face it together. Because the progress we’ve made as a country didn’t happen by accident, and it won’t continue without effort.
This Canada Day, let’s recommit to learning from and listening to each other so we can break down the barriers that divide us, rectify the injustices of our past, and build a more fair and equitable society for everyone. Together, we will roll up our sleeves and do the hard work that is necessary to build a better Canada.
From my family to yours, happy Canada Day.
I am from the Deep South, the heart of the former Confederate States of America. The lie of the Lost Cause thrives, sometimes under official protection of state governments. Quoting pro-slavery documents, such as the inaugural address of Jefferson Davis, the Cornerstone Speech of Alexander Hamilton Stephens, and the secession declarations of states does not change the minds of many people, committed to the lie of the Lost Cause. My family tree includes at least on Confederate Army veteran from Virginia and at least one Confederate state senator from Georgia.
The state senator from Fort Gaines, Georgia, was also a deacon in the Fort Gaines Baptist Church, and a slaveholder. During the Civil War, the State of Georgia conscripted slave labor to build up and maintain fortifications. The state also promised to pay the slaveholders for the slaves’ work. (Nobody paid the slaves, of course.) The state senator was one of the affected slaveholders. A letter he wrote to Governor Joseph Brown has survived. In this correspondence, the state senator complained that the state was delinquent in paying him for his slaves’ labor. I read the text of the letter in a book about the Civil War in southwest Georgia and southeast Alabama.
I sympathize with the slaves, not the state senator.
Most opposition to facing the past honestly stems from discomfort with the implications of doing so. If many of our ancestors were total bastards, what does that make us? We like to think ourselves as good people. We also like to think our ancestors as good people. Many of them were good people. Many of them were also vile racists, imperialists, slaveholders, and other types of sinners. If any nation or society is to move forward, toward a more just nation or society, it must acknowledge its past–positive and negative–honestly. It must stand on the ground of objective reality and admit to the better angels and the demons of the past and present. Only then can the nation or society move forward into a better, more just future.
Happy belated Canada Day! Happy birthday, U.S.A.! May we admit that recognition of the truth must precede reconciliation and progress toward justice. May we recognize the truth, reconcile, and progress toward justice. That will work toward the common good. That will be patriotic and moral.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 2, 2021 COMMON ERA
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SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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